Defiant Kim Jong Un says North Korea will complete nuclear programme

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Associated Press

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said his country is nearing its goal of "equilibrium" in military force with the United States, as the United Nations Security Council strongly condemned the North's "highly provocative" ballistic missile launch over Japan on Friday.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency carried Kim's comments today - a day after US and South Korean militaries detected the missile launch from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

It travelled 3,700 kilometres as it passed over the Japanese island of Hokkaido before landing in the northern Pacific Ocean. It was the country's longest-ever test flight of a ballistic missile.

The North has confirmed the missile as an intermediate range Hwasong-12, the same model launched over Japan on August 29.

Under Kim's watch, North Korea has maintained a torrid pace in weapons tests, including its most powerful nuclear test to date on September 3 and two July flight tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could strike deep into the US mainland when perfected.